Buoyant Mpe vows to act against ill-disciplined cadres

JOHN Mpe, the newly-elected chairperson of the ANC in Limpopo’s Peter Mokaba region, has vowed to deal harshly with those who undermine internal democratic processes by resorting to irregularities, disrupting party meetings and using fraudulent membership to gain power.

He was delivering his closing address at the 8th regional conference held at Bolivia Lodge outside Polokwane last weekend. Mpe defeated Polokwane mayor Thembi Nkadimeng by 57 votes in a hotly contested election.

Promising to deal decisively with what he termed foreign tendencies within the movement, the Capricorn District Municipality Mayor said he would start with those who sow divisions in the party.

“One thing we should acknowledge is that leading up to the conference we have seen tendencies that may need to be eradicated in our organisations. Part of these tendencies includes disruption of ANC meetings, tearing of roll calls and also the issue of fraudulent membership,” Mpe said.

“It is a matter that I believe the leadership of the ANC under the chairpersonship of myself will have to go through and find ways of ensuring that it never occurs that in our aspirations and our personal ambitions to become leaders we do things that seek to undermine our internal democratic processes.”

The conference also saw the elections of Solomon Pahedi as deputy chairperson, Eugene Masete as secretary, Edward Paya as his deputy and Nakedi Sibanda as treasurer respectively.

Without getting into the specifics, Mpe condemned the use of money in the organisation in a bid to win conferences. His statement mirrored utterances by ANC secretary general Ace Magashule at the Limpopo Provincial conference last month that those who took the organisation to court had to be exposed and dealt with severely.

“Unity and cohesion as well as discipline should be a common way that we live by. Those who continue to take the ANC to court seemingly because their views did not prevail can only deserve our internal disciplinary processes. It cannot be that every time there are conferences our own comrades all of a sudden have got money to take the ANC to court,” Magashule said.

To loud cheers, Mpe said: “Not only that we must take time to investigate that even people who are unemployed they have had money to go to the highest courts in the land in order to stop conferences and one question we would like answered one day is who is sponsoring these court interdicts against the ANC.”

There was a failed bid by disgruntled ANC members to interdict the provincial conference.

Mpe congratulated branches of the organisation for behaving in a good manner.

“You have surprised and disappointed those who have predicted the failure of the conference. Prophets of doom have already said that the Peter Mokaba Region would not go to conference and that we are not united. But with your conduct you have demonstrated that indeed you are ready to unite and build a much stronger region in Limpopo,” he concluded.

Soviet Lekganyane.

Onicca Moloi.

Recently elected ANC Provincial Secretary Soviet Lekganyane concluded the conference and said what was seen as taking a swipe at Former MEC of Sport, Arts and Culture Onicca Moloi who announced her resignation on social media after calling out senior party leaders.

“The ANC touched you and made you a glorious person. The ANC applied its cosmetics on you and you became drop dead-gorgeous. By your own standards you were not gorgeous. We found you without education, illiterate and unable to read and write. We made you a councillor, we made you a Member of Parliament and we appointed you as MEC and a minister as the ANC.

“When we come out of this hall you are going to stop the public spat that you do on social media. There is no single member of the ANC that we are going to tolerate to continue to put the party in disrepute in the social media. Members of the ANC must conduct themselves in a dignified manner,” said Lekganyane.

Three weeks ago, Lekganyane accused Moloi of insulting and belittling ANC deployment after she denounced “your so-called blue lights” on social media.

He summoned her to the party’s Frans Mohlala provincial headquarters to explain her alleged misconduct.

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